Biostratigraphy and geochemistry of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) and early danian event (Dan-C2), a possible link to deccan volcanism: New insights from Red Sea, Egypt

The end of the Cretaceous is a dramatic period in the Earth's history, when a catastrophic event known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event took place (66.043 ± 0.011 Ma). During the early Danian a minor hyperthermal event, known as Dan-C2 event, was raised and caused a minor perturbation in the carbon cycle. These two events were coincident with the second and the last phases of Deccan eruption in India. In El-Beida section, Quseir area, Red Sea, Egypt, the (K/Pg) is placed in the middle part of Dakhla Formation on the contact between the Hamama and Beida Member and is determined based on the high occurrence HO of Nerphrolithus frequens (CC26), the abrupt shift in δ13Corg from −23.5‰ to −24.3‰, and Hg enrichment was observed just below KPB; the Hg reaches 63.5 ppb, the earliest Danian zones (NP1, lower part of NP2, P0 and P1a) are missing due to the KPB hiatus. Dan-C2 is placed at the top of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary hiatus, and coincident to the base of NP2 nannofossil biozone. In general, only the second carbon isotope spike of the Dan-C2 is present and is characterized by 1.5‰ negative shift in organic carbon isotope, a sudden drop in TOC content, and mercury enrichment coincident with the δ13Corg onset that may be linked to the Deccan volcanic eruption (phase-3).